"I don't do enough miles to justify buying a diesel"

[mikal83]

[quote=bodhi]

Damn! Wish you'd told me that in August - we took the 125i for a Euro jaunt in September. Think it cost an extra tenner in fuel than the old diesel would have done. Bugger all in the scheme of a £1500 holiday, and the diesel wouldn't have been half as fun through tunnels or the narrow streets of Bruges. Saw plenty of other petrol cars motoring around, so you may want to go tell the Dutch/Belgians not to bother?


yeh sure of course it did!!

[Lozw86]

Are people not fed up of the petrol vs diesel debate yet? It is rather exasperating

[Pan Pan]

bodhi said:

mikal83 said:

Easy if you read half the numpty threads here not camparing like for like.
Oh and dont take your petrol car to the Eu for a holiday. Diesel in the majority of the Eu is around e1.2 a litre and Spain as an example, petrol e1.6 a litre.

Damn! Wish you'd told me that in August - we took the 125i for a Euro jaunt in September. Think it cost an extra tenner in fuel than the old diesel would have done. Bugger all in the scheme of a £1500 holiday, and the diesel wouldn't have been half as fun through tunnels or the narrow streets of Bruges. Saw plenty of other petrol cars motoring around, so you may want to go tell the Dutch/Belgians not to bother?

Must admit I'm loving no longer driving a diesel. Lovely and smooth, and 20mph to 100 in one gear if you have the required Autobahn. And as good as the 3 litre turbodiesel in the old car sounded (for a diesel) - it really can't compare to the 3 litre petrol that replaced it in the music stakes.

For distance work I don't really care what kind of sound a car makes as long as it is quiet, In which case it doesn't really matter if it is petrol or diesel. At the motorway limit my diesel is to all intents silent, because the engine is turning over at barely above idling speed in 6th gear. wind noise or even the heater blower on its first setting, is louder than the engine.
The only time I ever smell diesel is from the fuel nozzle at a filling station, and that is only rarely because I easily get 1000 miles plus from a tank full of mixed town and motorway driving. If people are going to comments on certain types of vehicle they should consider ALL the points of use, and not just focus on what they `perceive' are the down sides of a particular vehicle type.

[Fox-]

mikal83 said:

Oh and dont take your petrol car to the Eu for a holiday. Diesel in the majority of the Eu is around e1.2 a litre and Spain as an example, petrol e1.6 a litre.

I did thanks - did 3200 miles over 3 weeks in a 530i.

[GreenArrow]

With second hand cars, its usually a case of potential bills on a diesel v MPG saving over a petrol. My 2l petrol Mazda 6 does about 35/36 MPG, but doesn't have a DPF, cambelt, turbo, dual mass flywheel, diesel injectors etc, so far less chance of a four figure bill. Hence I have enjoyed very cheap running costs this last year if you exclude the MPG and rather high VED. Having said that, nothing much wrong with the trusty old PD VAG, provided its not the dreaded 2 litre version, but the old 1.9, which will go on forever....

[mikal83]

Fox- said:

I did thanks - did 3200 miles over 3 weeks in a 530i.

Bully you, I have just come back from 5 months away/ 10,ooo miles, with my 2 litre TDi, care to share costs?

[Fox-]

I did it in 2012 when fuel prices were rather higher but I spent approx £500 on Super Unleaded and achieved an average of exactly 35mpg.

[mikal83]

Fox- said:

I did it in 2012 when fuel prices were rather higher but I spent approx £500 on Super Unleaded and achieved an average of exactly 35mpg.

Fantastic figures. According to Honest Johns "real mpg" the average return from those that gave feedback, for a 530i was 29.3 mpg. I averaged just a tad under 50 mpg, "honest john" doesnt have a return for my C5 2.0 diesel auto, but its probably 45-47 mpg. My onboard computer showed approx 5 litres per 100 whilst cruising at 130 kmph. My saving over yours was approx just under 50%. In Spain it was e1.6 for unleaded, e1.25 for diesel. Add the near 45% in better consumption and convert the diff in price.......I paid less than 1/2 that you did.
Horses for courses.

[Fox-]

mikal83 said:

Fantastic figures. According to Honest Johns "real mpg" the average return from those that gave feedback, for a 530i was 29.3 mpg. I averaged just a tad under 50 mpg, "honest john" doesnt have a return for my C5 2.0 diesel auto, but its probably 45-47 mpg. My onboard computer showed approx 5 litres per 100 whilst cruising at 130 kmph. My saving over yours was approx just under 50%. In Spain it was e1.6 for unleaded, e1.25 for diesel. Add the near 45% in better consumption and convert the diff in price.......I paid less than 1/2 that you did.
Horses for courses.

Yes but you did the trip in a 2 litre Citroen C5 and I did it in a 3 litre BMW 5 Series - two totally different cars. It's obviously going to be more expensive to drive a larger, faster and higher performing car with a bigger engine. A more useful comparison would be against a 530d - I'll report back when I've taken my 530d to Germany in December.

[gizlaroc]

mikal83 said:

"honest john" doesnt have a return for my C5 2.0 diesel auto.......

Of course he doesn't, embarrassing enough driving one, not going to go and post you do on the internet too!!!


But you're missing the point, he was in a glorious straight six petrol.

Take a new 2.0tdi and a new 1.4tfsi and they both do the same.

[thelawnet]

mikal83 said:

Easy if you read half the numpty threads here not camparing like for like.
Oh and dont take your petrol car to the Eu for a holiday. Diesel in the majority of the Eu is around e1.2 a litre and Spain as an example, petrol e1.6 a litre.

What you meant to say I think is that the UK has the most expensive diesel in the EU. Bar none. Which is rather the point for most people on this site. And the actual difference in Spain only around six cents?

Actual price differences:

Italy €0.12
Holland €0.29
Belgium €0.14
Germany €0.17
Austria €0.10
France €0.19
Spain €0.06
Ireland €0.10
Sweden zero

Source: http://fuel-prices-europe.info

[bodhi]

mikal83 said:

Fantastic figures. According to Honest Johns "real mpg" the average return from those that gave feedback, for a 530i was 29.3 mpg. I averaged just a tad under 50 mpg, "honest john" doesnt have a return for my C5 2.0 diesel auto, but its probably 45-47 mpg. My onboard computer showed approx 5 litres per 100 whilst cruising at 130 kmph. My saving over yours was approx just under 50%. In Spain it was e1.6 for unleaded, e1.25 for diesel. Add the near 45% in better consumption and convert the diff in price.......I paid less than 1/2 that you did.
Horses for courses.

As mentioned, apples and oranges is more accurate. There is a slight difference in experience between a minicab special and a 530i. I'd happily pay twice as much to take the BMW.

Having gone from a 3 litre diesel to a 3 litre petrol in a similar weight car, I feel confident when I say the difference in MPG is negligible between the two. In the 330d I got 39mpg, the 125i will easily do 34 on a similar trip. All measured brim to brim using Fuel Log on Android. Doing 20k a year, the 330d was averaging 280 quid a month in fuel, the 125i is costing around 300.

I can easily see a diesel is a good tool to do a job - I'd just rather a diesel wasn't doing a job for me